Archive

Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman argues that saving money is not the path to economic recovery. Instead, he says, we should put aside our excessive focus on the deficit, try to overcome political recalcitrance, and spend money to put America back to work. Krugman offers specific solutions to not only end what he calls a “vast, unnecessary catastrophe,” but to do it more quickly than some imagine possible.

His latest book, End This Depression Now!, is both a warning of the fiscal perils ahead and a prescription to safely avoid them.

Some moments from the conversation:

By all accounts Aaron Swartz was brilliant, gifted, idealistic ... and fragile.  Too bad he wasn't "too big to fail." I never met Aaron, but I know a lot of people who knew him well. (We did "converse" as members of the same online discussion group.) I learned about...

Sometimes when I get a bill I don’t feel like paying it. But I do, because I’m a responsible adult. If I don’t pay my bills, I get in trouble. It’s true for a family and for a government.

Republicans in Congress are creating another manufactured default crisis. Raising the debt limit doesn’t authorize new spending. It just allows the United States to pay our bills for money that Congress already spent.

Refusing to honor their commitments would mean undermining our nation’s credit rating and stiffing Americans on money they are owed.

A number of the DC elites are talking about changing the way Social Security checks are adjusted for inflation. This is a great idea, as long as any such adjustment measures the things the elderly actually spend money on. Let’s do it! Let's change the way we adjust Social Security for inflation because inflation hits older people much harder.

The U.S. Treasury yesterday dashed the hopes and dreams of many in the blogosphere when it announced that neither it nor the Federal Reserve saw the idea of a $1 trillion platinum coin as a realistic alternative to raising the debt ceiling. But the White House's statements about the 14th amendment and the platinum coin keep the focus laser beam-like on Congress. The only question now is whether the House GOP will play legislative chicken with the increase in the debt ceiling that will be needed some time in late February or will cave when the time comes.